Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To talk idly; chatter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To find fault; nag.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. or Scot. To find fault; to be peevish.
  • intransitive verb To talk constantly; to chatter incessantly to prattle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb colloquial To talk without purpose.
  • verb Scotland To nag.
  • noun colloquial Mindless and irrelevant chatter.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb talk socially without exchanging too much information

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Variant of dialectal gnatter, to nibble, natter.]

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Examples

  • JEFFREY EUGENIDES dark natter [dark nat ur] n. an analogue of dark matter, which astrophysicists speculate may constitute as much as 90 percent of the universe, dark natter is empty but continuous chatter of an ominous sort, whether in direct discourse, by way of the electronic media, or in print.

    Archive 2004-07-01 2004

  • We were observant of details and appearances, and we could one and all "natter" over our small grievances without wearying of the subject, and without ever speculating on their causes, or devising remedies for them.

    Six to Sixteen: A Story for Girls 1872

  • We were observant of details and appearances, and we could one and all "natter" over our small grievances without wearying of the subject, and without ever speculating on their causes, or devising remedies for them.

    Six to Sixteen A Story for Girls Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863

  • i was advised by a green party lady last night to send the email 5 times in one go, that that's how to get his attention. i don't want to piss him off but would like the honour of a one-on-one 'natter'. i've been told i give good nat.

    Last night's carol service and SOCPA demo Rachel 2006

  • Brainy Indians in Silicon Valley natter constantly with brainy Indians in Bangalore.

    How Immigrant Entrepreneurs Turbocharge U.S. Trade Robert Guest 2011

  • Soit does seema bit strange, even antisocial, to natter in the reading room while others are trying to concentrate.

    Libraries Maxine 2009

  • OMG but OBAMA's a LIB SOCIALIST so it doesn't natter that his policies are GOOD.

    April Jobs report: Best gain in four years 2010

  • One morning in Canberra in the winter of 2006-07, Trescothick and I were standing together by the hotel breakfast room toaster having a natter.

    Michael Yardy's underlying depression exacerbated by life on the road | Mike Selvey 2011

  • The quality of the reviews in this issue, however, well justifies shelling out the cost of a print copy, with which you can spend several hours, if not days, enjoying one of the few national book reviews that doesn't consider books an excuse for allowing reviewers to natter on about their "ideas" and that provides ample space for reviews of current fiction alongside the well-chosen nonfiction reviews also included.

    Postmodernism 2010

  • He did, however, sit down to open the latest edition June 19, equipped with a flask of coffee and pottery mugs, to natter to a Buddhist monk about egoism, altruism and Schopenhauer.

    I Think, Therefore I Am Happy Lennox Morrison 2011

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